Jagger tensed, keenly aware of Emily behind him even as his flesh connected with the cold hard metal in front of him.

Damn. He should never have let himself be distracted by her, never have let a few feet separate him and his gun. He swore softly.

“Whoever the hell you are you have about ten seconds to get out of here before I kill you.” Jagger said coldly, not letting a trace of the fear he was feeling show in his voice or his demeanor.

“Oooh. I’m scared.” The voice was cold and mocking and heavily tinged with a Russian accent. “The way I look at it, I have the gun and that means you jump when I say jump.”

“There’s a difference between having a gun and having the advantage,” Jagger said calmly, his mind running through a dozen different scenarios at one time. Some of them got him out of this situation alive, some of them got Emily out alive, but none of them ended with both of them surviving.

The man, a youth really, raked his eyes over the two figures lying on the bed with open hostility. “You know, not that I’m complaining or anything but with the bounty that my boss is willing to pay for your head, I kind of thought killing you would be tougher than this.”

“I’m not dead yet.”

“Yet. But you will be. And with your death, my own place in the DVX is assured, isn’t it?” The youth grinned openly.

He was working for the DVX? Jagger stored that bit of information away in his mind. What the hell was the DVX interested in him for? Sure there had been a few close encounters with DVX agents over the last few years, but no more than there had been with WSB agents. The question was who was in charge of the DVX this month and how badly had he managed to piss them off.

The tightening of the hand on his shoulder brought him back to this moment. Emily.

He held his hands up. “Okay. You have me. Look, no resistance. Let’s just talk about this like two civilized assassins. You know it is the 21st century...”

The youth shook his head. “The great Jagger Cates. All during my training I heard stories of you. The reality is so disappointing compared to the myth.”

He heard Emily mutter something about that sounded distinctly like “oh brother” and bit back a grin, despite the circumstances. “Like I said, let’s take this someplace else.” Jagger moved away from Emily, drawing the gunman’s attention away from her direction. “As much as the DVX wants me dead, my bosses want me alive. Surely we can work something out.”

The young man’s eyes light up. He has been stateside tracking Cates for a month or so and so far he has liked what he has seen of American life. Compared to the constant cold and hunger that was Moscow these days, America was paradise. Double crossing the DVX was not something a smart man did, but with enough money..... He shrugged nonchalantly. “If I kill you here or I kill you in some alley, it does not matter to me.”

“Then let’s go.” Jagger said, wincing at the boy’s obvious greed and stupidity. Where the hell was the DVX doing its recruiting these days anyway? He should have killed Jagger while he had the advantage and walked away.

“Wait.” The youth said pointing at Emily. “First I kill her.”

Jagger swore inwardly. “Go ahead.” He said the words with deliberate nonchalance.

“You don’t mind?”

“Why should I? She’s just a hooker I picked up.”

“She does not look like a hooker.” He stepped forward and his eyes deliberately devoured Emily’s slender form. “Too skinny. Her clothes are plain. And no make up.”

“Yeah, what can I say?” Jagger stepped forward before Emily could strangle the man, gun or no gun. “To each his own you know. Some guys go for the glamour type, I go for the young and stupid type.”

“Stupid?”

“Of course. Brains are wasted on a woman. We all know that.” He kept his voice cool and impersonal with a slight hint of sarcasm. “Are you interested in a deal or do you want to just kill me now ?”

The man grinned. “She will wait until we are finished. As my superiors frequently say business before pleasure.” Feeling smug and secure in his control of the situation, the callow youth turned his back on Emily and moved to escort Jagger to the door.

Relieved that the man’s attention had been diverted from Emily, Jagger let the DVX agent lead him to the motel room door.

He was already trying to figure out the best way to get the drop on the boy once he was sure Emily was safe, when he heard a grunt and the man dropped to his knees, his gun dropping to the floor. Instinctively, Jagger whirled and picked up the gun, keeping it trained on the agent, he looked up to see what had made him fall.

Emily Quartermaine, her eyes simmering with a burning anger, put down the gun she had picked up from the weapons on the table next to the bed.

“Did I kill him?” She asked softly as she scurried off the bed.

Still in shock, Jagger examined the Russian agent and shook his head. “He’s still breathing.”

Emily relaxed slightly. “Was he really DVX?”

Another shock. “How do you know about the DVX?”

“Please. I’ve lived in Port Charles since I was 10 or so. Plus I was adopted by the Quartermaines. Does the name Grant Putnam mean anything to you? I heard the story a few months after I was adopted by the Quartermaines. Hell, when I got in trouble as a kid I either blamed it on my best friend Lucky or I made up stories about Russian agents who were impersonating me. No one ever really bought it of course, but they thought it was cute so they usually let me off the hook.”

“And where did you learn to shoot?”

“You don’t live with bodyguards without picking up some things you aren’t supposed to know anything about.” Emily felt herself shaking as reaction set in. “There was one bodyguard, Johnny, who was really nice to me. I pestered him to teach me how to shoot so often that one day he caved. I was 17 and a half and from the way Jason reacted when he found out you would have thought I was seven. I can remember Jason saying that he never wanted me to know what it felt like to shoot someone....” Emily’s voice trailed off. “Oh God. I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Hey,” Jagger grabbed her shaking form and pulled her close to his warmth. “It’s okay. You did good, kid. You probably saved your own life. I know you saved mine.”

“You called me stupid.”

“Yeah. I know. Forgive me?”

“For calling me stupid, yeah. For trying to kill me, not on your life.” She pushed him away. “I should pick up one of those guns and shoot you this time.”

“You should,” Jagger agreed readily. “But you won’t.”

Emily looked at him closely, remembering how he had put himself between her and the gun. “No,” she admitted reluctantly. “I won’t.”

The tension between them escalated and Jagger’s could feel his heart racing when a cold wind blew between them as the motel room door opened and the harsh voice of Jason Morgan intruded.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing with my sister?”

“Relax Morgan,” Sarah spoke up from behind him as she practically pushed him into the motel room. “The really important question is who’s the corpse and what is he doing here?”

“Corpse?” Emily questioned shakily. “I thought you said...”

“He is. He’s alive.” Not for long Jagger finished silently. “Listen, why don’t you sit down and talk to your brother. Sarah and I have business to discuss.”

Sarah’s eyes narrowed at Jagger’s manner. What the hell was going on here? She shrugged. “That sounds good. Morgan can reassure himself that we haven’t hurt his precious sister and you and I will discuss business.” She kicked the body on the floor. “The first order of business being disposing of our friend here.”

Five minutes later, the body of the DVX agent stripped of its identity and lying in an ally a few blocks away from the motel, Jagger turned to Sarah as they approached the motel room door.

“What next?” He asked casually. “I’m assuming you’ve arranged Morgan’s cooperation.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t like it but he’ll play the game as long as have Michael. But maybe we should keep the sister as insurance just to be on the safe side.”

Jagger hissed slightly. “We don’t need her and she’ll just slow us down.”

“Then let’s do what you suggested. Kill her and eliminate another witness.”

“What happened to not hurting her because she and your sister are friends? Or your own friendship with her?”

“It’s not my attitude that concerns me,” Sarah regarded her partner with near open hostility. “It’s yours. We can’t afford any mistakes on this mission and you making googly eyes at little Miss. Quartermaine strikes me as mistake number one.”

“The girl saved my life. I owe her.”

“So you’ll throw away our mission...”

“No dammit. You know that killing Kosokov is as important to me as it is to you. But killing Emily is not going to help the mission.”

“We can’t afford her running to the police.”

“She won’t. The kid is her nephew, right? She cares about him. For some reason she even cares about Morgan. She’ll keep silent.”

“For her sake, I hope you’re right. If there’s any sign of her going to the police, we kill her.”

“Agreed.” Jagger said softly even as something in him protested silently.

Inside the motel room, Emily sat quietly on the bed watching Jason pace the room, her eyes slipping back and forth between the blood stain on the rug to the guns on the table.

“They are going to kill me you know,” she whispered the words softly. “They think that somehow they can use me to control you and as soon as they realize they can’t, that you don’t care what happens to me....” She shivered and her voice broke.

“Emily..” Jason began, unsure of what to say next.

“It’s okay, Jason. It’s not your fault. It was my mistake.”

“I’m not angry with you anymore.”

“Right. That explains why you haven’t talked to me in almost a year and why I had to sneak behind your back to spend any time with my nephew. If Carly hadn’t let me ...” Emily stopped. “Oh, God. I’m sorry about Carly, Jason. She....we weren’t always friends but I couldn’t have made it through this last year without her.”

Jason winced at the pain laced throughout Emily’s voice. He started to say something, but before he could Emily continued. “I just want you to know that I’m sorry. I should never have.... I would never want anything to happen to Michael. I know that sounds empty considering what I did, but I’m truly sorry Jason. I should never have gotten into that car with Micheal when I was high. I put him in danger and I can’t forgive myself for that so I don’t expect you to. I was just...hurting so bad after what happened to AJ that I slipped back into drugs. I just wanted to forget you know. Forget that AJ was dead. Forget that Lila was gone. Forget my screwed up so called love life. And the pills let me do that. But the fact that I almost hurt Michael...” Emily’s voice grows bleaker as she remembers waking up in the hospital with Jason standing over her bed, his eyes cold and remote and angry. She’d seen that look directed at many others over the years, but never dreamed she would see it directed at her.

He’d said nothing, simply turned and walked away, and Emily had began to cry softly, understanding without words that she had suffered another loss.

She found herself staring at the scars on her wrist. Gently Jason lifted her hand and traced the scar. “I never meant for you to do this...” he spoke the words softly.

Emily nodded sadly. “You didn’t do it. I did. Just like I decided to start using again. Just like I endangered Michael.” She finished softly, repeating her earlier words. “It’s not your fault.”

Jason wanted to protest. He had never dreamed he would see Emily like this. Broken. Lost.

“Jason. Would you do me a favor? Tell Mom and Dad and Edward that I loved them, okay? Always.” She closed her eyes and laid her head on her knees. “I think I wouldn’t mind dying as long as they know that. I’ve hurt them so much in the past.”

“Jesus, Quartermaine,” Jagger swore as he entered the motel room with Sarah behind him in time to catch the tail end of their conversation. “Would you stop with the self pity for five minutes? No one is going to kill you and whatever you did to the jerk I’m sure he’s done worse to other people.” Jagger stared pointedly at Jason as he walked up to Emily, wanting to say more but keenly aware of Sarah’s interest focused on him. “Come on, I’m going to take you home.”

“Home? But I thought...”

“What that we would kill you?” Sarah’s voice was even and cool. “We won’t. As long as you don’t do anything stupid like try to go to the police.” She eyed Jason coldly. “And as long as your big brother here continues to play the game according to our rules.”

“You know I will. For now.”

“For always if you want to see your precious stepson again,” Sarah said, deliberately emphasizing the word “stepson.” Jason’s angry words at her from earlier still rang in her head. She turned to Jagger. “We’ll need a new place. You know what we require, have Morgan help you find it. I’ll take Emily home.”

Jagger hesitated, not liking the mood Sarah was in. “Why don’t you....”

Sarah cut him off. “You’re the one in charge of the surveillance this time so you set up the shop.” She walked forward to Jagger and pulled him into a tight embrace and a passionate kiss. “Don’t worry lover, I’ll be back.”

Lover? Emily averted her eyes as she shakily got off the bed. There was still some dizziness but she could function. So they were lovers? What did it matter to her? Once she left here, she would never see Jagger again. And that was what she wanted, right?

She swayed slightly and Jason reached for her to steady her. She could feel the tension in him. “Are you going to be okay?” she whispered softly, trying to ignore Sarah and Jagger.

“I’ll be fine,” Jason replied evenly, his attention focused on the couple embracing. Why did he find it so disturbing? He shook his head.

Jagger broke off the kiss and pulled away from the embrace. As arousing as he found Sarah to be, he was keenly aware of Emily watching him. He’d maybe even let things go on a little longer because he knew she was watching. Whatever was happening between them, would either die a natural death or he would kill it he decided.

“No one has to take me home.” Emily said calmly even as the nausea that had plagued her earlier returned. “I can get myself home.”

Jagger had to fight the instinct to grab her when she swayed slightly.

“Don’t worry about it.” Sarah said quietly, her concern for her old friend rising momentarily to the surface. “This way you and I can catch up on old times.” She mocked slightly. “And maybe even discuss new times.”

Emily nodded uncertainly. Home. Bed. Shower. To forget that she had kille d a man. To forget that she had almost been killed. That was all she wanted. Not necessarily in that order but that was all she really wanted at the moment.

Well maybe not ALL she wanted. Being careful not to look in Jagger’s direction, Emily let Sarah lead her from the motel room.

Jason turned to Jagger the minute they were gone. “I’ll play by your rules but you’ll play by mine” His voice was cold and deadly. “ You touch my sister and I will kill you, Consortium or no Consortium.”

Next:
“Old friends” catch up on both fronts and the mission moves forward.